During a brief rain shower between games Saturday, the Michigan baseball team doubled as the grounds crew at Fisher Stadium by covering the field with the tarp.
Yesterday, the Wolverines put away the tarp and got out their brooms to make a clean sweep of their four-game series with Northwestern.
Michigan (11-3 Big Ten, 22-12 overall) rallied from behind twice to beat Northwestern, 10-8, thereby vaulting themselves into first place in the Big Ten.
Closer Tyler Steketee relieved Matt Herr with runners at the corners and two out in the ninth. He fanned Jason Anderson, ending the game and getting his third save of the weekend.
Herr (1-0) entered the game in the sixth and extinguished a Northwestern (3-9, 8-24) uprising. He pitched three scoreless innings, getting the win in his second appearance of the spring.
"The difference was Matt Herr," Michigan coach Geoff Zahn said. "He's been around two weeks; he comes in and throws very well. He went right after them, was very aggressive, and made them hit the ball."
Michigan took the lead for good by sending eight men to the plate in the sixth inning and scoring three runs without getting a hit. Bobby Scales and Jason Alcaraz each walked on four straight pitches, and Derek Besco was safe at first when Northwestern third baseman J.P. Williamson's throw pulled Keith Haan off the bag.
With the bases loaded and nobody out, the Wildcats played the middle of their infield at double-play depth.
That move appeared to pay off when Brian Besco hit a tallor-made double-play ball to second. However, Wildcats second baseman Mike Adams fielded the ball and then inexplicably fell down. Everybody was safe.
Kirk Beermann drew a bases-loaded walk to give the Wolverines the lead, and then Beermann got in a pickle to avoid a double play on Mick Kalahar's ground ball, which allowed another run to score.
"We took what they gave us," Zahn said. "We scored 10 runs, and we needed them today. They did make five errors, which probably gave us the ball game, but our guys swung the bats a little better today."
Michigan starter Ryan Kelley settled down after getting into early trouble. The first four batters of the game reached base on a walk, triple, double and single.
"He was having trouble with his mechanics, so we made some adjustments," Zahn said.
After giving up two runs, Kelley got out of the inning with a strikeout and a double play. Michigan exploded for six runs in the third, and Kelley left the game in the sixth with a 7-5 lead.
Saturday's doubleheader was controlled by the pitchers on both sides, as the Wolverines swept the twinbill by scores of 2-1 and 3-1.
In the first game, the Wolverines took an early lead when Dan Sanborn reached base on a fielder's choice, and came around to score on a double by Derek Besco. The game remained 1-0 until the sixth, when the Wildcats tied the game with an unearned run. Williamson reached on an error by Cervenak and scored on a double by Andrew Kirsh.
The Wolverines wasted no time answering. Derek Besco was hit by the first pitch of the bottom of the sixth. His brother Brian followed by ripping a double down the rightfield line, scoring Derek, and re-establishing Michigan's one-run lead.
Michigan freshman pitcher Brian Cranson (4-2) was impressive in his first career Big Ten start, allowing only four hits and no walks in six innings. He was lifted after Ollie Dunn led off the seventh with a single. Steketee retired the next three Wildcats to earn his fourth save.
"I pitched in two other Big Ten games, and I have been feeling more comfortable every time out," Cranson said. "Today I felt I had great control and got ahead of the hitters, and that was key."
In the nightcap Saturday, the Wildcats got out to an early 1-0 lead, and for awhile it appeared as though that might be the only scoring. Michigan's Pete Martay and Northwestern's Chris Hargan were both sharp.
The Wolverines finally got on the scoreboard with some clutch hitting in the fifth. With one out, Sanborn - pinch hitting for catcher Andrew Miller - was hit by a pitch. After Brian Bush flied out to center, Cervenak singled sending Sanborn to third. Scales tied the game with a single back through the box.
Northwestern coach Paul Stevens brought in Ben Dodd, a lefthander, to face the left-handed Jason Alcaraz. That backfired, however, as Alcaraz sent a base hit into right, scoring Cervenak with the go-ahead run.
The Wolverines picked up an insurance run in the sixth due to the hustle of Brian Besco. Besco led off the inning with what appeared to be a routine single up the middle, but he rounded first and kept going, beating the throw into second with a head-first slide.
Brian Kalczynski sacrificed Besco to third with a bunt on a 1-2 count, and Kirk Beermann followed with a chopper to third that was so high, Besco was crossing the plate by the time Wildcats' pitcher, John Seaman, fielded it.
"In the sixth inning when we scored, that was a big, big run for us," Zahn said. "That kind of broke their backs."
Steketee replaced Martay to pitch the seventh and picked up his second save of the day.
"We worked hard for these wins. They played us very, very tough." Zahn said. "We did some things right at the right times, and that's what makes winning teams."
The Wolverines started the weekend with an offensive explosion on Friday. They sent 11 men to the plate during a six-run second inning on their way to a 10-4 win.
Kalahar started a string of five consecutive hits with a run-scoring single. Bush followed with a two-run double, then Cervenak doubled. Sanborn's RBI triple was the Wolverines' fourth extra-base hit of the inning, and Alcaraz added a run-scoring single.
The Wolverines scored three more in the third with hits from Kirk Beermann, Bush, Cervenak and Sanborn.
Northwestern scored single runs in the first and third innings. Michigan hurler Brian Steinbach avoided more serious trouble in the third when rightfielder Derek Besco cut down Northwestern's J.P. Williamson trying to score from second on a single.
Steinbach pitched a complete game and struck out a career high 11. He held Northwestern hitless from the fourth through the eighth.